What long-term care costs in Florida, and who actually pays

Of all the conversations I have with families, the one about long-term care is the one people most want to skip. It is uncomfortable, it feels far away, and most of us assume something will cover it. So here is the part nobody wants to say out loud, followed by what you can do about it.

The odds and the price

About 70% of people turning 65 will need some form of long-term care in their remaining years, according to the U.S. Administration for Community Living. That might mean help at home for a few months, or it might mean years in a facility.

The price is the part that surprises people. The 2025 national median for assisted living is about $6,200 a month. A private room in a nursing home is about $10,800 a month. Florida figures track close to the national ones. At those rates, a two-year stay in a nursing home is more than a quarter of a million dollars.

What Medicare pays

For long-term custodial care, the help with bathing, dressing, eating and moving around that most people picture, Medicare pays nothing. Medicare.gov says so directly. It covers a limited stay in a skilled nursing facility after a qualifying hospital admission, for rehabilitation, and then it stops. It does not pay for assisted living, and it does not pay for a nursing home once the goal is care rather than recovery.

The sentence I hear most is "I thought Medicare covered that." I would rather someone hear that it does not from me, across a table, with time to plan, than from a billing office.

Michelle Rocchio

What Medicaid pays, and what it costs to qualify

Medicaid does pay for nursing-home care, but only once a person has spent down nearly all of their own assets to qualify, and Florida looks back five years at anything given away or transferred. A living trust on its own does not change that, which surprises people. For many families that means the savings a couple spent a lifetime building are gone before the state steps in, and the surviving spouse is left with far less than they expected.

Where this fits in a plan

Care costs are why extended care sits inside family legacy planning rather than off to one side. The questions are practical: which assets would pay for care, which ones are protected, what happens to the spouse who stays home, and what reaches the children. Some families set money aside for it, some use insurance products designed for it, and some decide to self-fund from retirement income knowingly. The bad outcome is the one nobody chose.

What to do with this

Look at what you have and ask, honestly, what would pay for two years of care at today's prices. If the answer is "the house" or "I am not sure," that is the conversation to have while it is still a planning question and not an emergency. Book a time or call (386) 212-9960. It is free, and nothing is sold in it.

Sources: U.S. Administration for Community Living, How Much Care Will You Need?; Medicare.gov, Long-term care; CareScout Cost of Care Survey, 2025, national medians (private room $355 a day). Florida costs vary by county; ask us for current local figures. This article is educational and is not legal, tax, or investment advice.